The one thing I would mention is that there seem to be a lot of kids who shift from APUSH to Honors in the first couple of weeks. And one implication is that those Honors sections fill up-- I know kids who stressed that they wouldn't be *able* to switch out if they waited because there would be no Honors section available. So see if you can find out whether waiting is a reasonable strategy. My kid's year (a few years ago) there was a race to the counselor's office for fear of losing the option.

DP. OP I think you did the right thing. APUSH isn't the be-all for a math kid.

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader started this week in APUSH and he’s completely overwhelmed. We put in the request last night to move him to honors.

I have this worry but my child is not really communicative. What did your child say seems overwhelming?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

Yes, he took AP Gov and did ok. It's the amount of reading I'm concerned about (again, math kid). It's already been a lot in a couple of days.

I teach APUSH - how much reading (and what types) have been assigned so far?

It is OK for kids to have an area of interest that they gravitate toward (and so their APs are skewed in that direction), but kids also have to be able to tolerate and get used to a certain amount of reading, etc. for college (even in STEM). Give us a sense of how much is assigned and I can tell you whether it really is a lot or whether it is an amount that it would be good for him to get used to.

Dp. Is reading and answering questions for 2 units a typical amount of one nights homework?

I'm not sure what you mean by a unit. APUSH has only 9 units total for the year, so I'm guessing that's not what you mean. If you mean "Topics" like Topic 1.1: Contextualizing Period 1 and Topic 1.2: Native American Societies Before European Contact, then it still isn't routine to cover that much in one night. BUT, some teachers really want to get into the meat of the course and know that there won't be many questions on Pre-Columbian Native American Cultures on the exam, so may try to zoom through the early topics in order to leave more time for other things. I would still try to wait a week or two to get a sense about whether this is a continuing problem before dropping down.

I cover roughly three of the above topics in a week in order to finish before the exam, but that can stretch. How many pages of reading and was it a textbook, prep book or scholarly articles?

OP my DD found it a slog and a lot of material. She normally gets straight A grades and it was her only B last year. She also only got a 3 in the exam which was really disappointing (her brother who is a big History kid got a 5 when he took it and an A).

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader started this week in APUSH and he’s completely overwhelmed. We put in the request last night to move him to honors.

Max should be AP Gov in 9th - poor kid. UPUSH in 9th is a terrible idea

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

Yes, he took AP Gov and did ok. It's the amount of reading I'm concerned about (again, math kid). It's already been a lot in a couple of days.

I teach APUSH - how much reading (and what types) have been assigned so far?

It is OK for kids to have an area of interest that they gravitate toward (and so their APs are skewed in that direction), but kids also have to be able to tolerate and get used to a certain amount of reading, etc. for college (even in STEM). Give us a sense of how much is assigned and I can tell you whether it really is a lot or whether it is an amount that it would be good for him to get used to.

Dp. Is reading and answering questions for 2 units a typical amount of one nights homework?

Our school doesn't let kids drop to a lower level until 3 weeks into the school year because they tend to panic at first.

My 9th grader started this week in APUSH and he’s completely overwhelmed. We put in the request last night to move him to honors.

Some kids do well in APUSH. Some kids do well in Honors.

Some math kids do well in APUSH. Some math kids do well in Honors.

Some kid do well in APUSH when they are older.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

Yes, he took AP Gov and did ok. It's the amount of reading I'm concerned about (again, math kid). It's already been a lot in a couple of days.

I teach APUSH - how much reading (and what types) have been assigned so far?

It is OK for kids to have an area of interest that they gravitate toward (and so their APs are skewed in that direction), but kids also have to be able to tolerate and get used to a certain amount of reading, etc. for college (even in STEM). Give us a sense of how much is assigned and I can tell you whether it really is a lot or whether it is an amount that it would be good for him to get used to.

Anonymous wrote:Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

Yes, he took AP Gov and did ok. It's the amount of reading I'm concerned about (again, math kid). It's already been a lot in a couple of days.

Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

I think we would need to know a lot more about your kid to say what's right for him. But if he's taking AP classes in other subjects and history is a weaker one for him, I think it's fine to drop down to honors US history.

But he also could just stick it out and then he might adjust to the pace and rigor, which gives him resilience. I've seen it play out both ways. And four days in is a bit early to call it quits.

My 10th grader -- who is much more a math kid -- is already feeling overwhelmed 4 days into the school year. He has a heavy course load and I think moving from APUSH into to Honors US History would be helpful to reduce the stress. He very much compares himself to his friends and thinks if they can do it, he should be able to as well. We're working on that mindset but it's not easy.

Anyway -- if your child switched out of APUSH to Honors or on-level US History, were they glad they did it? Or if they stayed in APUSH, how did it go?

Thanks